After watching the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention and about a half-hour of the talking heads on CNN last night, The Eye wandered off

After watching the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention and about a half-hour of the talking heads on CNN last night, The Eye wandered off to bed for some well-earned shuteye when ...

THUMP-a THUMP-a THUMPA-a THUMP-a THUMP THUMP THUMP-a ...

... the sounds of the Sheryl Crow concert at the Les Schwab Amphitheater wafted through our windows, making sleep impossible for the next hour and a half.

The Eye's residence is a good three and a half miles away from the Schwab, so the THUMP-a THUMP-a THUMP-a must have been almost deafening to anybody living anywhere in the vicinity of the Old Mill District.

Seems we've been hearing a lot more noise from the Schwab this summer than in previous ones. Whether this is because of some atmospheric disturbance (sunspots?) or because they've cranked up the amplification we don't know.

And we don't really care, because it's annoying as hell either way.

By the time the summer season ends, there will have been 11 concerts at the Schwab (not counting the free ones on Sunday afternoons) beginning on Friday, May 23 and concluding on Monday, Sept. 1. Eight of those 11 concerts were/are scheduled for Sunday nights or weeknights.

That's kinda tough on folks who have to get up and go to work in the morning. (And believe it or not, quite a few of us do; PR to the contrary notwithstanding, most people in Bend do not spend their days playing golf, getting spa treatments and hanging out in coffee shops.)

Even for those of us who don't have to get up early, it would be nice to sit outside on a warm summer evening without having to listen to THUMP-a THUMP-a THUMP-a for hours.

Now, it's true that The Eye doesn't like most of today's popular music very much. But we'd be complaining about the decibel levels from the Schwab even if the New York Philharmonic was playing. It's noise pollution, it's obnoxious, and people shouldn't be forced to put up with it all summer, every summer.

Okay, we realize that people enjoy the Schwab concerts and they bring folks into town who spend money on restaurants and other stuff. But isn't there some way to either (a) schedule the concerts at more convenient times or (b) turn down the volume so everybody from Tumalo to LaPine doesn't have to hear them?

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